Editorial

Gonjas, Mamprusis must maintain age-old relationship

 Last week, a violent clash between Gonjas and Mamprusi at Lukula and Nyoagbini led to the shooting to death of one elderly man and the burning down of houses in the two villages in the North Gonja District of the Savannah Region of the country.

Other things like personal belongings were destroyed and inhabitants of the vil­lages had to flee to nearby communities for safety.

It is alleged that National Security outfit asked both Gonjas and Mamprusis to withdraw their warriors from the two villages to avert any clashes and attendant disaster(s) but the two tribal groups did not heed the advice.

It is even said that a team of police officers were de­ployed to the area and they arrested a number of people and seized 10 motorbikes, yet the warriors clashed and the result is now in the pub­lic domain.

Related Articles

People do not just wake up to dispute over things, which means that all conflicts or disputes have causes and what is left is how to resolve them.

The dispute in question now is said to have erupted between Gonjas and Mam­prusis at Lukula in 2019 when the government was carving the Savannah and North East regions out of the Northern Region.

Even though we do not want to recount any hap­penings there, we can say that there are issues to be resolved because the clash­es between the two tribal groups depict that there are still some misunderstandings.

Now, the Overlord of the Mamprugu Traditional Area, Nayiri Abdulai Mahami Sheriga, has called on the feuding factions to cease fire and disarm

themselves for peace to prevail in the area.

The Nayiri is worried that the dispute is undermining centuries of cordial relation­ship between the two tribes.

We share in the Nay­iri’s concerns just as any peace-minded person or groups would because a con­flict has devastating effects on the safety, livelihoods and

welfare and wellbeing of people in the immediate environment.

Besides, it erodes the national purse as some cost would be incurred to contain it, and while that is going on, it creates fear and panic, taints the image of the area and drives away partners or investors who, otherwise, would want to help develop the area because they would wonder when a renewed

dispute will erupt.

Thus, with all due re­spect, we wish to appeal to Nayiriga Sheriga that it is not enough to ask feuding factions to stop all hostilities without any concrete steps to help in resolving the conflict.

As the Nayiri, he is an important stakeholder and so we hope he would confer with the other stakeholders to find a lasting solution to the conflict to ensure the calm and peace he wishes for the area.

In commemorating its efforts in ensuring global peace over the years, the UN couched the 2023 theme as: “Peace begins with me: 75 years of UN Peacekeeping”.

With reference to this UN theme, we appeal to the fac­tions and all other stakehold­ers in the Gonja-Mamprusi conflict to see themselves as peace-makers whose con­tributions to resolving it is significant in every respect.

That way, they would see the need to ease all en­trenched positions to ensure lasting peace in their beloved land.

Show More
Back to top button